Training Log Archive: Nadim

By playing with Max and lifting him repeatedly to give him a ride (e.g. "ju-jai" style), I did some abdominal work. This was done lying on my back with my knees up like I was going to do situps but Max sat on my ankles and I lifted my legs pivoting at the hips. I sometimes catapulted him (while holding on) over and behind my head too. I could feel the strain of the work with some cramp like pain. Later Max returned the favor by walking on my back and legs. He thought this later part, a massage for me, was great fun because he liked to fall down off of me onto some cushions. A birthday party for one of Max's former classmates took up most of the rest of the day.

I just did a bit of late evening spinning after doing some errands.

Getting home a bit late cascaded so instead of running, I ended up spinning and watching a movie. I felt stronger.

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max in his trailer, then to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Georgetown Branch tunnel. It was a little damp and cloudy and there was a bit of traffic but as I write this and see the sun shining outside, I'm happy to have ridden in.

The dampness was fine all exept for the last 20m. As I was riding over a large, almost unavoidable metro venting grate up a grade to lock up, I noticed my tires feeling mushy. Next I realized they weren't mushy, they were sliding. It was practically dry leading up to the grate and I almost went down on it. I made it safely and instantly recalled a similar experience in western Maryland on a multi-day solo ride in which I zoomed near 40mph down a hill over a slightly foggy steel grated bridge at the bottom. In both instances, I think training on rollers and a lot of time in the saddle saved me.

From the Bethesda Metro station to Maple Ave., then to Northfield Rd. via the Georgetown Branch Trail. I got out of work a bit late so it was starting to get dark on the way home. The winds were picking up enough that I felt the need to pedal downhill.

From the Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro Station to Tuckerman Ln., to Rockville Pike to Beach Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, to Connecticutt Ave. to the Georgetown Branch Trail to Woodmont Ave. to the Bethesda Metro Station at Edgmoore Ln. I was tired all day at work but felt reasonably well going homeward on this run. I did feel I was struggling to keep up a decent pace. I carried some essentials.

The total time is estimated because I pressed the wrong button on my new watch at one point. The watch is okay but not quite as useful for running as my old Accelerator which finally died; the new Casio G-Shock holds more splits (100) but only can record two different runs. I based the time on measured half mile splits, most of which were taken going up a slight grade.

On the segment of the Rock Creek Trail that I ran, they've added a lot of new mile posts. I don't think I'll like them. The old ones were fine; just every mile. The new ones are sequenced every quarter mile but the marker number can only be seen from the trail when looking perpendicularly away. To make it more confusing, there are separate posts used for each direction of travel that are less than 50m apart.

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max in his trailer, then to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Georgetown Branch tunnel. It was in the mid or upper 50's F. I probably should have planned to ride all the way in to work but with our bodies still adjusting to the daylight savings time change we got a late start.

From the Bethesda Metro station to Maple Ave., then to Northfield Rd. via the Georgetown Branch Trail. After picking up Max's trailer, I felt headwinds drag on it a fair amount. As I was near getting home, I met Peggy and Max as they were headed to the playground.

Cabin John Regional Park, MD. Starting from the playground area off Tuckerman Rd., I went southward mostly and covered more trails up to Democracy Rd. I did a lot of short out and back segments to capture spur trails with my GPS for later mapping. I'm sure the odd out and back running on spurs affected my overall pace a bunch but I wasn't running that fast either. I covered some of the unofficial intermittant trails. Several of these were very steep. The elevation gain posted was recorded but is suspect. It seemed that I really had climbed much more. At one point, my path joined up with a younger trail runner. As we ran together at more his pace (I was moving pretty slowly by myself), I explained what I was doing and a bit about orienteering. His name was Peter. He may bring his two kids and come to the QOC Wheaton meet next week. I was a bit glad to be able to slow down again after turning off to climb up another long spur trail.